;. 




: 



Wj, 



Tired 
Church Members. 



ANNA WARNER, 

AUTHOR OF THE " FOURTH WATCH," " THE OTHER 
SHORE," ETC. 



" So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink 
water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned 
unto me, saith the Lord.'" — Amos iv. 8. 

" Choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life." 
Luke viii. 14. 



-PR 2S 189! ' | 



NEW YORK : 
HURST & COMPANY, 

122 Nassau Street. 



The Library 
of Congress 

WASHINGTON 



1*41 



Copyright, i8£§, 
Bv ROBERT CARTER & LROTHERS. 

Copyright, 1891, 
By HURST & COMPANY. 



€^ix-ioW 



The Argyle Press, 265-267 Cherry Street N. Y. 



CONTENTS. 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS 5 

MUSIC 24 

DANCING 38 

THEATRES 5 1 

GAMES j£ 

WHAT LEFT? 86 



Ctrett Cjjurrij JKemhers* 



T SUPPOSE one never goes heartily 
into any bit of Bible study, with- 
out finding more than one counted 
upon. And so for me, searching out 
this subject of Christian amusements, 
some curious things have come to 
light. As for instance, how very lit- 
tle the Bible says about them at all. 
It was hard to find catchwords under 
which to look. "Amusement"? there 
is no such word among all the many 
spoken by God to men. " Recrea- 
tion"? — nor that either; and "game" 
is not in all the book, and "rest" is 
something so wide of the mark (in the 



6 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

Bible sense, I mean) that you must 
leave it out altogether. And "pas- 
time " ? ah, the very thought is an 
alien. 

" This I say, brethren, that the time 
is short." 1 

Redeem it, buy it up, use it while 
you may, — such is the Bible stand- 
point. It flies all too quickly with- 
out your help. 

"My days are swifter than a weav- 
er's shuttle." 2 

"Pass the time of your sojourning 
here in fear." 3 

Not in frolic. So you can see that 
I was puzzled. However, by patiently 
putting words together, noting care- 
fully the blanks as well, some things 
become pretty plain; and the vexed 
question of Christian amusements is 

1 I Cor. vii. 29. 2 Job vii. 6. 3 I Pet. i. 17. 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 7 

answered clearly enough for those who 
are willing to know. But as we go on 
searching and comparing, think always 
of the command once given and never 
repealed : 

"He that hath an ear, let him hear 
what the Spirit saith unto the church- 
es." * 

For we call ourselves Christians, — 
that "people of laws divers from all 
other people"; and now we are con- 
sulting our statute book. 

You think, then, — says somebody, — 
that Christians are to do nothing but 
work, work, from morning to night: 
that the Bible forbids all play and all 
pleasure ? No, I think nothing of the 
sort. But let us see what it really 
does say. "To the law and to the 
testimony," — and abide by them. 



8 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

To begin then where most of all, 
perhaps, the old and the modern times 
are like each other, — feasts have al- 
ways been in vogue and always per- 
mitted; only for Christians, like all 
else that concerns them, with a spe- 
cial set of regulations as to time, manr 
ner, and behaviour. You do not think 
of this when you dress for your dinner 
party: you did not suppose the Bible 
meddled with such things. Nay, it 
''meddles" (if you call it so) with 
the very smallest thing a Christian 
can do. 

The feasts of old time were in all es- 
sentials so like the feasts of to-day, that 
not all the changes of race, dress, and 
viands can much confuse the likeness. 
There is the great baby celebration 
for Isaac, 1 and the wedding feast for 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 9 

the daughter of Laban, 1 and the im- 
promptu set-out in Sodom wherewith 
Lot thought to entertain the angels. 2 
There are the great gatherings of young 
people over which Job was so anxious; 3 
and the yearly sacrifice at the house 
of Jesse ''for all the family,"' 4 remind- 
ing one of our Thanksgiving. 

Then follow state dinners of amity 
between two contracting powers; as 
when Isaac feasted Abimelech, 5 and 
David feasted Abner. 6 Then court 
entertainments: the birthday feast of 
Pharaoh to all his servants, when he 
lifted up one and hanged another, and 
the birthday feast of Solomon which 
marked his entrance upon a new life 
of duty, opportunity, and promise, and 



l Gen. xxix. 25. 


2 Gen. xix. 3. 


3 Job i. 7. 


4 I Sam. xx. 1 


5 Gen: xxvi. 50. 


6 II Sam. iii. : 



lO TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

which he kept like a young heir com- 
ing of age. 

These are all well known to us: and 
alas, so also are the feasts of social 
excess, like those of Nabal; 1 and the 
idolatrous feasts of the men of She- 
chem, 2 and of the king of Babylon; 3 
wherein men praise only "the gods 
of gold, and of silver, of brass, and of 
iron, of wood and of stone." 

"And the harp, and the viol, the 
tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their 
feasts: but they regard not the work 
of the Lord, neither consider the op- 
erations of his hands." 4 

"A feast is made for laughter," — but 
this laughter is "mad"; utterly inter- 
dicted to all those who would "live 
soberly, righteously, and godly" in this 

l I Sam. x.w. 26. 2 Judges ix. 27. 

3 Dan. v.i. 4 Isa. v. 12. 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. II 

world. 1 Such "revellings" are classed 
among " those works of the flesh which 
are manifest"; there can be no ques- 
tion about them: the "revellings, ban- 
quetings,"'" for which "the time past of 
our life may suffice us." 3 That time 
when we were without God in the 
world, walking as other Gentiles walk. 
With all such "recreations" the true 
Israel have absolutely nothing to 
do. 

Does it follow then that a Christian 
must stand aloof from all festivities 
that are not wholly among Christian 
people? Not quite that. "I am a 
companion of all them that fear thee," 
said David, 4 and it certainly looks ill 
for a man if his habit is the other way. 
Yet there are exceptions, there must 

i Titus ii. .2. 2 Gal. v. 2r. 

a I Pet. iv. 3. 4 Ps. cxix. 63. 



12 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

be, — else, says the apostle, "ye must 
needs go out of the world." l But like 
everything else for you and me, it is 
all within regulations. First as to the 
going. 

" If any of them that believe not bid 
you to a feast, and ye be disposed to 
go—" 2 

And then follows the first rule. 
Whatsoever you can do there Chris- 
tian-wise; whatsoever you can join in 
that will not implicate you as a pos- 
sible worshipper of his idol that bade 
you — even the god of this world — that 
do. But otherwise there is the strict- 
est hands-off ! And for two reasons. 

" Eat not for his sake that shewed it, 
and for conscience sake."" 

No matter if it be something as sim- 
ple as eating and drinking. That is 

1 I Cor. v. 10. 2 T .Cor. x 27. 3 I Cor. x. 28. 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 13 

the instance given by the apostle, the 
eating of meat which had been first 
offered to an idol. And just as once 
the missionaries in a far off Eastern 
island never tasted beef for two whole 
years, because they could get none 
which they were sure had not been so 
offered; in like manner are you called 
upon to absolutely let alone every- 
thing which may cast even a doubt 
upon your loyalty to your Master. 

Can you go to the entertainment so, 
keeping your garments spotless ? Can 
you go as the Lord did ? 

" And Levi made him a great feast 
in his own house; and there was a 
great company of publicans and others 
that sat down with them." x 

Pharisees murmured, but the Lord 
knew why he went. 

l Luke v. 29. 



14 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

" And Jesus answered them, They 
that are whole need not a physician; 
but they that are sick." 1 

If you can go thus, to do your Mas- 
ter's work; mingling with his enemies 
to win them for his friends; seeking 
their company not for their wealth 
and place, but rather because of their 
deepest need and danger; not for their 
gaiety, but for the abounding joy you 
would fain make known to them out 
of your own heart-store: then I should 
say again: "If any of them that be- 
lieve not bid you to a feast, and ye be 
disposed to go," — go! 

But beware of compromises, — that 
specious temptation not to make re- 
ligion disagreeable. It can never be 
really that if it is the true thing, — a 
burning fire, a shining light, — but some 

l Luke v. 29. 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 15 

one has well said: "When religion loses 
its power to repel, it loses also its pow- 
er to attract." It must be intense, ac- 
tive, clear enough to do both. "The 
disciple is not above his Master. If they 
have called the Master of the house 
Beelzebub, how much more them of his 
household " ! l 

And it is only as an uncompromising 
servant of the Lord Jesus, that you 
can ever hope to do anything for him. 
On all days, in all places, you must 
count yourself on duty and under or- 
ders. You cannot pledge a man in the 
wine cup to-night, and to-morrow plead 
with him to escape for his life. You 
(annot join in the "foolish talking and 
jesting, which are not convenient," 2 
and afterwards reason of "righteous- 
ness, temperance, and judgment to 

l Matt. x. 25. 2 Eph. v. 4. 



16 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

come": or if you do, people will not 
listen. You will find that, like Lot, 
you have " lost your spiritual credit." 
"He seemed as one that mocked, to 
his sons-in-law." 

" I had dined every week all winter 

with Dr. ," said a lady to me, "and 

never guessed that he was a clergyman 
till yesterday ! " Johnson said of Burke, 
that " you could not stand with him five 
minutes under a gateway in a shower 
of rain, without finding out that he was 
an extraordinary man," — and how long 
shall it take people to learn that you 
are a Christian ? — one bought back 
from slavery, called to be a saint, heir 
of a kingdom ? Ah, how ready men 
are to parade their worldly honours; 
their orders of merit and badges of 
bravery; but leave their Christian col- 
ours at home, and hide their uniform 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 17. 

with a pair of the world's over, lis ! 
Alas!— "If the trumpet give an un- 
certain sound, who shall prepare him- 
self for battle ? " l 

Yes, if you can go into mixed so- 
ciety as the Lord went, then go. But 
otherwise, for your own enjoyment, a 
different model is set. 

"Then Jesus, six days before the 
passover, came to Bethany, where 
Lazarus was which had been dead, 
whom he raised from the dead. There 
they made him a supper; and Martha 
served; but Lazarus was one of them 
that sat at the table with him. Then 
took Mary a pound of ointment of spike- 
nard, very costly, and anointed the feet 
of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her 
hair; and the house was filled with the 
odour of the ointment." 2 

1 I Cor. ii. 8. 2 John xii. 1-3. 



iS TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

How exquisite the picture ! how rare 
the intercourse, how precious the re- 
sults ! A few of the Lord's own people 
met together with the Lord himself; 
the one expensive thing mentioned be- 
ing bought for him. It was only "a 
supper"; and there were sorrows before 
them, and sorrows behind, and only 
the spikenard was "very costly," — that 
consecration to God which gives him 
all we have: but its fragrance filled the 
house. And not all Arabia was ever 
so perfumed. 

And must Christians give no other 
feasts but such as that ? some one may 
ask. There is another sort mentioned, 
nay even insisted upon; but if the first 
looks to you dull, the second will seem 
— impossible ! You will find a full de- 
scription of it in Luke xiv. 13. And 
so far as I know, this is the only sort 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 19 

of great entertainment that Christians 
are encouraged to give; ruling out in 
toto the tit-for-tat customs of modern 
society. " For they cannot recom- 
pense thee." But it also spares you 
the perplexing question of full returns, 
for these people have given you nothing. 
Only the Lord has given, — and now bids 
you keep open house for him in his 
absence. And do you see ? the great 
Master of assemblies will count the in- 
vitations as given to himself, and will 
one day make a royal return for them 
all when he cometh in his kingdom. 
"They cannot recompense thee." 1 
What ! — never invite your friends un- 
less they happen to be poor ? O, yes 
indeed, — invite them, enjoy them, make 
much of them, precious things as friends 
are; yet spend the most on the por- 



2Q TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

tionless lives that are all around you. 
There are fancy fountains in the rich 
man's grounds, throwing up jets of 
water just to catch the sunlight: let 
your small rills of refreshment flow 
silently to places where the tide is 
out and the streams run dry. 

"They cannot recompense thee; but 
thou shalt be recompensed at the res- 
urrection of the just." 1 

And as soon as you make ready a 
blessing — not a compliment — in your 
hand, unfashionable dresses will not 
matter, untutored tongues will sound 
sweet; and your feast will be all glori- 
fied, for the Lord himself will be there. 
, " Go your way, eat the fat and drink 
the sweet, and send portions unto them 
for whom nothing is prepared." 2 

"The Levite, the stranger, the fa- 

l Luke xiv. 14. 2 Neh. viii. 10. 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 21 

therless, and the widow," 1 — "the poor 
that are cast out" 2 — these were Israel's 
special charge under the law. But the 
gospel gives deeper work. 

"When thou makest a dinner or a 
supper, call not thy friends, nor thy 
brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor 
thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid 
thee again, and a recompense be made 
thee. But when thou makest a feast 
call the poor, the maimed, the lame, 
the blind; and thou shalt be blessed, 
for they cannot recompense thee; for 
thou shalt be recompensed at the res- 
urrection of the just." 3 

The Lord dates the note of payment 
far ahead, but indeed I think he is bet- 
ter than his word, and deals out much 
coin as we go along; it is such won- 
derful pleasure to fill an empty cup ! 

1 Deut. xiv. 27. a Isa. Iviii. 7. & Luke xiv. 12, 13. 



2 2 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

This is "recreation," true and sweet; 
for of all the refreshments from one's 
own toil and sorrow, I think minister- 
ing to other people is about the best. 

I have said nothing — is it needful to 
say aught ? — of the Bible rules for be- 
haviour at a feast. One is ready to im- 
agine that Christians do only that which 
is "lovely, and of good report." Yet 
notice a few things. 

" They love the uppermost rooms at 
feasts," 1 was spoken of the Pharisees; 
but to his disciples Christ said: "Who- 
soever will be chief among you, let 
him be your servant." 2 

"When thou art bidden, go and sit 
down in the lowest room." 3 

Other things follow close and easily 
upon that. 

" Be courteous."— 



TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 23 

"Let your moderation be known un- 
to all men." 

''Whether therefore ye eat or drink, 
or whatsoever ye do, do it all to the 
glory of God." 

And to people with hearts so set, 
that other vexed question of dress will 
be easy; for all will be "clothed with 
humility"; 1 and the spotless garments 
will so far outshine the pearls and 
costly array, that no one will miss 
them, nor wish them there. 2 

1 I Pet. v. 5. 

2 Sir Matthew Hale thus charged his grandchildren: "I will 
not have you begin or pledge any health; for it is become 
one of the greatest artifices of drinking, and occasions of quar- 
relling in the kingdom. If you pledge one health, you oblige 
yourself to pledge another, and a third, and so onward; and 
if you pledge as many as will be drunk, you must be de- 
bauched and drunk. If they will needs know the reasons of 
your refusal, it is a fair answer: ' That your grandfather that 
brought you up, from whom, under God, you have the estate 
you enjoy or expect, left this in command with you, that you 
should never begin or pledge a health.' " 



Jttustr. 



"T7T7"HAT do you mean by 'the 
world ' ? " said a gentleman 
to me. "I suppose of course you rule 
out music and painting." So people 
judge; taking for granted that what- 
ever is pleasant, religion makes wrong. 
Rule out music ? — why it exorcised 
Saul's evil spirit ! Yet even for the 
enjoyment of sweet sounds there are 
laws and limitations. 

It will be a good day when our so- 
called sacred music (much of it) more 
nearly resembles that of old time and 
has less kinship with the title of a lit- 
tle book yclept "Rhymes and Jingles." 



MUSIC. 25 

A- paid choir (no objection to that, if 
you can buy up their hearts as well) 
ah operatic organist, a silent, criticis- 
ing congregation. Is there much praise 
in that ? much worship ? much refresh- 
ment for a tired heart? Look how it 
was when the ark of God, the visible 
sign of his presence, was brought home 
to Jerusalem, — all took part in the mu- 
sic, from the king down; and did it 
unto God. 

"And David and all Israel played 
before God with all their might, and 
with singing, and with harps, and with 
psalteries, and with timbrels, and with 
cymbals, and with trumpets." ' 

" The singers went before, the players 
on instruments followed after; among 
them were the damsels playing with 
timbrels. Bless ye God in the con- 



26 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

gregations, even the Lord, from the 
fountain of Israel." 1 

Not much like a quartette and its 
mute audience ! Or how does this 
compare, with the way we hand over 
the praise to some who do not even 
profess to feel it ? 

"And David spake to the chief of 
the Levites to appoint their brethren 
to be singers with instruments of mu- 
sic, psalteries and harps and cymbals, 
sounding, by lifting up the voice with 
joy. 2 

There is not much "joy" like that 
behind most of the choir curtains in 
our day; but by such means one would 
be pretty sure of good music. We are 
not told whether the women took part 
in the ordinary public music in the 
temple; but on all special occasions 

l Ps. Ixviii. 25, 26. 2 I Chron. xv. 16 



MUSIC. 2 J 

of deliverance and thanksgiving they 
had their full share. We people in this 
Western world are so silent in our joy 
as in our grief, — as apt to bow the head 
for gladness as for sorrow, — we know 
nothing like those grand spontaneous 
bursts of music that once resounded on 
the shores of the Red Sea, or echoed 
through the hill country round about 
Jerusalem. 

"Then sang Moses and the children 
of Israel this song unto the Lord, say- 
ing, I will sing unto the Lord, for he 
hath triumphed gloriously." - 

That was from the men. And an- 
swering them came the softer voices 
of Miriam and "all the women," cheer- 
ing them on: 

"Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath 
triumphed gloriously." 2 



28 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

This was no written music they had 
met to practise; it was fresh out of 
their hearts; with all their enemies 
"dead upon the shore," and Israel 
free. 

Or listen to the chorus of women 
that " came out of alt the cities of Is- 
rael " to meet the army, when David 
had conquered the Philistine in single- 
handed fight. 

" And the women answered one an- 
other as they played, and said, 

"Saul hath slain his thousands" — 

"And David his ten thousands "— 

You perceive that they understood 
music in those days; every word in the 
great swell of song so distinct, that 
Saul heard every word — and "was 
very wroth." 

So "at the dedication of the wall 
of Jerusalem " (think of dedicating a 



MUSIC. 29 

city wall ! how they must have be- 
lieved Ps. 127) the dedication was 
kept 

"With gladness, both with thanks- 
giving-, and with singing, with cym- 
bals, psalteries, and harps." 1 

And as the bands of people went 
up to Jerusalem to the three great 
feasts, they sang and chanted from 
time to time as they marched along, 
the Levites at their head beginning 
the song, and the rest joining in. 

"I was glad when they said unto 
me — " 2 

"As the mountains are round about 
Jerusalem " 3 — and all the rest. Ah 
what music ! You see the Bible is a 
great favourer of sweet sounds. 

But all this, you will say, was public 
and special, — not meant for recreation. 

l Neh xii. 27. 2 Ps. cxxii. 1. 3 Ps. cxxv. 2. 



30 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

Let us listen to the Bible music which 
is private and personal, and you will 
find it every bit as sweet. 

''Praise the Lord with harps. Sing 
unto him with the psaltery and an in- 
strument of ten strings. Sing unto him 
a new song; play skilfully with a loud 
noise." 1 

Are you not glad of that word 
"skilfully"? You see you may cul- 
tivate your talent to the last point, 
and may have any amount of new 
music. The Lord's people are not 
meant to be bunglers, in any line. 
And yet some seem to think it is 
no matter how they sing holy words ! 
This "new song" may perhaps be what 
David speaks of in another place: 

"He hath put a new song in my 
mouth, even praise unto our God." 3 

I Ps. xxxiii. 2/3. 2 Ps. xl. 3. 



MUSIC. 31 

For as " his mercies are new every 
morning, 1 so should also our praises 
be; new, fresh, vigorous; not always 
the same old words to the same old 
tune. "The songs of Zion," so sung, 
are wondrously sweet; even the pooi 
captives in Babylon were called upon 
to sing them for the pleasure of their 
heathen captors. 

" The songs of Zion." Many of you 
imagine they are all pretty much alike; 
all solemn and tedious and slow. But 
listen. 

"I will sing unto the Lord, be- 
cause he hath dealt bountifully with 
me." 2 

Can anything be gayer than that ? 
Or anything sweeter than this: 

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart 
is fixed: I will sing and give praise." 3 

1 Lam iii. 23. 2 Ps. xiii. 6. 3 Ps. lvii. 7. 



32 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

Or where will you find richer chords 
that this: 

"I will sing of thy power, yea, I will 
sing of thy mercy in the morning: for 
thou hast been my defence and refuge 
in the day of my trouble." * 

New, skilful, and then comes in an- 
other requirement; songs should be 
sensible. 

" I will sing with the spirit, and I will 
sing with. the understanding also." 2 

Know what ' you sing. Does this 
keep out all but sacred music ? I 
should not think that. But it does 
forbid singing you know not what in 
a foreign tongue, or mere dead non- 
sense in your own. I cannot see, for 
my part, why it is much better to sing 
"idle words " than to say them. How 
vapid, how senseless, is many a song 

l Ts. lix. 16. 2 I Cor. xiv. 15. 



MUSIC. 33 

one hears from a pretty mouth and a 
sweet voice. And in music as else- 
where, there is no middle ground: 
whatever does not edify — build up — ■ 
pulls down. 

"It is better to hear the rebuke of 
the wise, than for a man to hear the 
song of fools." 1 

How run the directions ? 

" Singing and making melody in your 
hearts to the Lord." 2 

Can you do that ? If not, music 
is no true recreation to you. What- 
ever chills your feeling for eternal 
things, making them seem dull and 
far away, is no breath of life-refresh- 
ment, but comes bearing the fumes 
of death. 

Do you think you would never sing 
at all, unless you sometimes forgot 

l Eccle. vii. 5. 2 Eph. v. iq. 



34 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

such solemn thoughts ? Ah there you 
are mistaken. 

" Behold, my servants shall sing for 
joy of heart." ' 

Not forgetfully, but in full remem- 
brance. 

" Is any merry? let him sing psalms." 2 

" Thy statutes have been my songs 
in the house of my pilgrimage." 3 

Now somebody will say that I have 
wandered quite away from recreation, 
and gone off to church. But no; I 
am speaking of heart and home mu- 
sic. You all know that there is no 
recreation about most of your music 
now-a-days. You bore yourselves and 
other people with much practising, and 
when you have learned, as you think, 
then you drop it all. Who is ready 
with a song for some weary, tuneless 

i Isa. lxv. 14. 3 James v. 13. 3 Ps. cxix. 54. 



MUSIC. 35 

life ? or who " keeps up her music " till 
the tired years of her own ? Work for 
it, pay for it, drop it, — that is the rec- 
ord. Your music, as it is, is a dead 
thing; and I want you to put the prin- 
ciple of life in it. For whatever you 
begin for your Master, you will also 
hold fast for him. 

Read over these words and ponder 
them well: 

" He that had received the five tal- 
ents, went and traded with the same, 
and made them other five talents." ' 

Every gift the man had, was used 
for Christ. 

How precious a gift this musical 
power is ! how usable a gift. 

"A very lovely song of one that 
hath a pleasant voice, and can play 
well on an instrument." 2 

l Matt. xxv. 16. 2 Ez. xxxiii. 32. 



36 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

How much it can do for ourselves, 
for the world. 

" David took an harp, and played 
with his hand; so Saul was refreshed, 
and was well, and the evil spirit de- 
parted from him." 1 

I have never forgotten how a lady 
with no great musical skill or educa- 
tion sang a verse of a hymn for me one 
night. It was at a little party, so she 
could not raise her voice above the 
softest undertone; but she sang that 
verse just to let me hear the tune, 
which I did not know. The words 
were familiar: 

" There is a fountain filled with 
blood " — 

I suppose I have often heard them 
what you call ''better sung"; but never 
with more lovely effect. Every word, 

l I Sam. xvi. 23. 



MUSIC. 37 

every note, was absolutely distinct and 
clear, yet not one rising- above that 
undertone: I doubt if even the people 
nearest to us heard; and the most rest- 
less nerves, the weariest head, could 
have listened and been refreshed. 
I know my eyes grew full; and I 
thought to myself, "Ah, you have 
practised your voice by many a sick 
bed, and trained it for just that work." 

"The evil spirit departed from Saul." 
But what of music that puts the evil 
spirit into men ? Of songs, however 
sweet sounding, that are written in 
the service of the devil, and sung at 
the high court of the world ? For this 
is your rule: 

" Singing with grace in your hearts 
to the Lord." * 

Like your speech, " alway with grace." 

l Col. iii. 16. 



© anting* 



" r I ^O everything there is a season, 
and a time to every purpose 
under heaven." 1 

And so it comes among the rest, 
that there is "a time to dance." 2 Such 
being the case, we have only to find 
out the when and the how; for of course, 
for Christians, dancing too must have 
its rules. In feasting the word is, "Do 
all to the glory of God "; and in music, 
"With melody in your hearts to the 
Lord"; and now for dancing the order 
comes: 

"Let them praise his name in the 
dance." 3 

l Eccle. iii. i. 2 Eccle. iii. 4. 3 Ps. cxlix. 3. 



DANCING. 39 

We are to praise the Lord with our 
whole lives; in our recreation no less 
than in our work. You see it is all one: 
with that proviso you may do anything. 

"Praise him for his mighty acts: 
praise him according to his excellent 
greatness." 

" Praise him with the timbrel and 
dance." 1 

I fancy you did not expect this, 
secretly believing that the Bible was 
all against dancing. I fancy most peo- 
ple would start back and say it cannot 
be done. If it cannot, or if by you it 
cannot, then — for you — the dancing 
question should be settled once and 
for all. The Lord has given you "the 
garment of praise for the spirit of heav- 
iness," 2 and you are not at liberty to lay 
it off for any dancing gear whatever. 

1 Ps. cl. 2, 4. 2 Isa. lxi. 3. 



40 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

" Ye are a chosen generation, a roy- 
al priesthood, an holy nation, a pecu- 
liar people; that ye should shew forth 
the praises of him who hath called 
you out of darkness into his marvel- 
lous light." 1 

The condition is absolute; and all 
doubts upon the dancing question are 
at an end for you. But for those who 
like to inquire into possibilities, let us 
search a little further. " Praise him in 
the dance." — Has it ever been done ? 
Never, — in such dances as you are ac- 
customed to. But a great while ago, 
on the shores of the Red Sea, while 
the men were chanting the praises of 
that God who had brought them safe out 
of Egypt, the women banded together 
"with timbrels and with dances" 2 (no 
mixed dances, observe), and so, dancing 

l I Pet. ii. 9. 2 Ex. xv. 20. 



for joy at the great deliverance, an- 
swered the men, chorus like: 

"Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath 
triumphed gloriously." 1 

So after Jephthah's victory, 2 came 
out his daughter to meet him "with 
timbrels and with dances." 

So after the rout of the Philistines, 

"The women came out of all the 
cities of Israel, singing and dancing, 
to meet king Saul." 3 

And though praise of the human 
agents mingled in, yet only Divine 
power had won the day, and well 
they knew it. And again you remem- 
ber how when the ark was brought 
home to Jerusalem, 

"David danced before the Lord with 
all his might." 4 

l Ex. xv. 20. 2 Judges xi. 3. 

3 I Sam. xviii. 6. 4 II Sam. vi. 14. 



42 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

Does it seem very strange to you ? 
So it did to David's wife on that oc- 
casion; for as she had no praise in her 
heart, no sympathy with the joy, of 
course the expression of it tried her 
patience. Dancing for joy, — we often 
use the image, but these people did 
the thing. It is hard enough to keep 
still sometimes, if one is very happy. 

Not like our dancing ! — you say. In- 
deed not much. No special steps, no 
intricate figures, no elaborate positions, 
no dressing for effect. David even laid 
his royal robes aside, instead of putting 
them on ; they were in his way. How 
could one dance for joy in a state 
dress ? No need of partners, where 
every one danced for glad thankfulness 
of heart. No "envy, malice, and all 
uncharitableness " stirred up by an- 
other's dancing or another's dress; no 



dancing. 43 

"wall-flowers," no monopoly. No late 
hours, leaving mind and body jaded for 
the next day's work. I think "dancing 
before the Lord " must have been very 
pure refreshment. And by the way, 
speaking of dress, I feel, somehow, as 
if — would people but choose their or- 
naments out of that treasure-chest of 
jewels "a meek and quiet spirit," ball 
dresses would lose their charm, and 
the German its great attraction. One 
never likes to go where one's dress is 
out of keeping. 

Christian dancing, for Christian joy. 
There was music and dancing, as well 
as feasting, when the prodigal son came 
home; returned from his sins, washed 
from his defilement, clothed at last in 
" the best robe " a sinner can wear. 1 
According to the word: 



44 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

" Thou hast turned for me my mourn- 
ing into dancing." 1 

Is such glad thankfulness so rare in 
our days that people have forgotten 
how it acts ? And would such dancing 
be possible now ? I do not know. But 
answer this question, and you settle 
at once the other perplexity wheth- 
er Christians may dance. For there is 
no other sort of dancing permitted to 
them, than this which springs up out 
of the mercies of the Lord, and is all 
consecrated to his praise. 

It is not quite the only sort men- 
tioned in the Bible; but the others do 
not look attractive upon paper. One 
of them indeed comes more properly 
under another head, and the rest are 
all idolatrous; in the service and hon- 
our of that biggest idol, the world; 

1 Ps. XXX. II. 



DANCING. 45 

whether any special graven image was 
set up or not. Dances indulged in only 
by heathen, or by nominal Christians 
who had swerved from their allegiance. 

When Moses tarried long in the 
mount, receiving his orders, the peo- 
ple, you remember, grew tired and rest- 
less, — in want of recreation, we should 
call it now, — and then they "quickly 
corrupted themselves." Weary of wait- 
ing, impatient of the monotony of their 
life, out of their own possessions they 
made themselves an idol, and then — 
danced before it ! conducting them- 
selves as well became those who had 
chosen a god that could neither hear 
nor see. 

" The people sat down to eat and 
drink, and rose up to play." 1 

And you will find this is always just 

l Ex. xxxii. 5. 



46 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

what people do after unhallowed rec- 
reation: they never rise up to do good 
work. Test your amusements by that. 
Recreation should be a re-creation to 
every noble end. 

Neither joy, nor thankfulness, nor 
the unbending from labour, was there 
among those poor Israelites — those 
people of the Lord in name; but only 
lawless mirth and unhallowed indul- 
gence. 

"He saw the calf and the dancing, 
and Moses' anger waxed hot." 1 

You think I am very hard upon dan- 
cing; and I have reason. " Two years 
ago," said a young girl to me, "you 
told me that if I went on doing these 
things I should myself change; that I 
could not do them, and keep myself. 
I was almost angry then, but do you 



DANCING. 47 

know it has come true ? I have changed. 
Things that I minded and shrank from 
then, I never notice now. I have got 
used to them, as you said. It frightens 
me when I think of it." Poor child ! — 
neither fright nor warning have stayed 
her course since then. A ceaseless 
thirst for excitement, an endless round 
of unsatisfying pleasure — so called, — a 
weary, old, disappointed look on the 
young face; broken engagements, for- 
gotten promises, a wasted life, — this is 
what it has all come to. " Hard upon 
dancing " ? yes, I certainly have rea- 
son. Do I not find it right in the way 
of some of my Bible Class who might 
t;lse become Christians ? do I not know 
how it tarnishes the Christian profes- 
sion of others ? Do not the careless 
young men in the class boast that 
they can get the Church members to 



48 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

go with them anywhere — for a dance ? 
Or how would you like to have a young 
girl come to you, frightened at things 
she had permitted at a ball the night be- 
fore, entreating to know if you thought 
them "very bad " ? 

Examine it, test it for yourself; only 
be honest. Can you dance " in ar- 
mour" ? crowned and shielded and shin- 
ing with "the hope of salvation," with 
"righteousness " and "faith " ? Are your 
shoes " peace " ? peace of heart, of con- 
science. Is your belt the girdle of 
"truth"? Can you "shew your col- 
ours" in the throng ? Dare you ? Are 
they not rather trailing in the dust, 
or quietly pocketed, or left at home ? 
Think honestly, and answer to your- 
self how it is. As in feasting, so here: 
you cannot dance all night with peo- 
ple, and next day warn them against 



DANCING. 49 

"the world, and the things of the 
world," and even hope to be listened 
to. "I am as good as most Church 
members," — ah how often we teachers 
and talkers meet that rebuff! And 
how well the Lord knew when he 
said: 

" He that is not with me, is against 
me." 

" Doth a fountain send forth at the 
same place sweet water and bitter ? " J 

"A time to dance." — Yes: whenever, 
and wherever, you can do it as the 
whole-souled servant of Christ. And 
how about dancing at home, among 
ourselves, as people say? — Without 
going any further, one thing forbids 
it all. If you dance anywhere, — you, 
a professing Christian, — in the eyes of 
the world you dance everywhere. The 

l James iii. 11. 



50 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

world allows no middle ground for 
Christians. " I saw her dancing," — 
and nobody stops to inquire when, or 
with whom, or how. So that there is 
nothing for you but this: 

"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from 
it, and pass away." x 

i Prov. iv. 15. 



Eljeatres. 



TF I say that it degrades oneself to 
A find pleasure in degrading things 
or degraded people, you will perhaps 
admit the fact but deny that it has any 
application to theatre-going. Is it not 
a fashionable, intellectual, and what 
not, amusement ? Let us see. 

Many of you who yet are theatre- 
goers, know well that you would feel 
yourselves degraded if even a dear 
friend went on the stage. 

" She has trailed an honoured name 
in the dust," — so have I heard the 
comment, from one who was not even 
a personal friend. "She might at least 



52 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

have taken another name ! " — And the 
speaker was not brought up among 
Puritans, and belonged to a Church 
which— as a Church — has no fear of 
the theatre. I think occasional indul- 
gence was common enough in the fam- 
ily. And the young actress had done 
nothing but become an actress, keep- 
ing her own name. Friends are mor- 
tified, — and yet friends go to see, and 
to help along. 

" But what shall actors do?" you 
say: "it is their way of getting a 
livelihood." No, not if support were 
given only to other ways. A man 
may make a round sum at ,a rowing 
match which cripples his strength for 
life; or by leaping across Passaic Falls, 
till he breaks his neck; he may set up 
for a wizard or a conjuror or a quack 
doctor, — he may pick your pocket or 



THEATRES. 53 

fire your house, — all in the way of bus- 
iness. The only question is in which 
way will you help him on. Things 
must be judged of quite apart from 
their money-making results. The old 
African maker of "greegrees" (charms) 
burns them all when she becomes a 
Christian; and the young carpenter just 
converted under Mr. Moody's preach- 
ing, gives up his only job because he 
can not do it for Christ, and will not 
even drive a nail in the scaffolding 
about a theatre. For the money that 
changes hands there, is the price of 
" the souls of men." 

You do not believe all this: you do 
not believe that evil can hide among 
such fascinations. And for the actors, 
they are not men and women ! Are 
they not kings and queens and fairies ? 
The glamour of their dress, the strange- 



54 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

ness of the scenes, the tin-everyday 
tragic or fantastic air of it all; with 
sometimes the witchery of music or 
the wonders of artistic effect, lay a 
spell upon your common sense. Do 
I not know ? Have I not seen young" 
Christian girls from the country a 
standing jest with people who knew 
the world, because — beginning with 
what the laughers called "a holy 
horror 1 ' of the theatre — they yielded 
and went "just once." Then, "only 
once more," — and then presently would 
go every night, to see everything ! 

When Miriam was six years old, 
some acquaintances over-persuaded 
her father to let them take her to 
see Cinderella, — Cinderella and 11 , some 
part of Der Freischutz; and one who 
was there remembers well how hard 
the little hands grasped the edge of 



THEATRES. 55 

the box, and how impossible it was 
to win the young eyes round, even by 
a vision of sugarplums. To the end 
of her life, I fancy, she will see now 
and then a picture out of that fairy- 
land. Next day Miriam entreated ear- 
nestly to have the pleasure over again; 
strengthening her plea with this re- 
markable promise, that if she might 
go once more, she would never do 
anything wrong again as long as she 
lived ! Her father paced up and down 
the room with a grave smile upon his 
lips, the little suppliant following with 
eager feet, ever renewing her request, 
and he answering little; for the mat- 
ter was beyond her ken. But he was 
a Christian who kept off the Debat- 
able land; and where his foot might 
not enter, he would not send his child. 
Had he not himself dedicated her to 



56 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

be the Lord's ? She never went again. 
Never to the theatre; never again to 
any such place, until long afterwards; 
and with that going he had nothing 
to do. 

Miriam had grown up, had become 
a Christian and a happy one; and as 
yet no "flatterer" had beguiled her 
off upon the "Enchanted Ground." 
But at last the temptation came, in 
a very specious way. 

There was a new Prima Donna at 
the opera house that winter; a young, 
pretty women, working hard (it was 
said) to support her mother; and Mir- 
iam, going daily to see dear friends at 
the same hotel, often heard the sing- 
ing and practising that went on in 
the Prima Donna's rooms. And Mir- 
iam was very fond of music, and had 
been able to hear very little that was 



THEATRES. 57 

really good; and now in a moment one 
thing took possession of her; she must 
go to the opera ! — -Tickets too costly, 
and no one to take her, made the thing 
look impossible on the one side; and 
on the other — there was her Christian 
name and promise. Of course it was 
wrong for Christians to go ! — she knew 
that. Yet for the time, nothing seemed 
tangible or real but this; go she must! 
And so from week to week this fever 
of desire grew and increased, fed from 
time to time by those snatches of song 
that floated through the great hall of 
the hotel. 

At last one day her friends said 
(knowing nothing of all this), ''Mir- 
iam, you must go with us to an un- 
dress rehearsal. We have got tickets, 
and you must go." Then beginning to 
answer the objections they expected — 



58 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

"It is only undress," they said; "the 
house half lighted, and the actors not 
in costume. Anybody might go, — and 
you musty — "It's a very moral opera," 
began another. " Of course we would 
never take you to see anything else." 

Miriam was too ignorant of the 
world and its theatres to fairly un- 
derstand all these advantages, — in- 
deed I fancy longing made such a 
din in her ears that she paid but lit- 
tle attention. For a while she with- 
stood — then desire rose up like a whirl- 
wind and carried all before it. They 
had tickets for that very night, — her 
friends, said one morning, — a ticket 
for her also — and an escort. She 
yielded and went. Went first to take 
tea with her friends, on the way; and 
I have heard her speak of the thrill- 
ing, pent-up excitement of that hour 



THEATRES. 59 

or two before it was time to set out: — 
Excitement that made her as still as 
a mouse, and the careless chatter of 
her friends incomprehensible! — that 
made cake into plain bread and but- 
ter, and bread and butter into — chips, 
for all she knew. Whether the ex- 
citement was all pleasure I doubt if 
she could tell;, yet if you think Mir- 
iam knew she was doing wrong, you 
would be mistaken. Perhaps it was 
with her, in the tumult of longing, 
as Fenelon says: "O how rare it is 
to find a soul still enough to hear God 
speak ! " Or perhaps the Lord, in his 
wisdom, chose this time to let her set 
her own lesson. I can only vouch for 
the dream in which she sat at tea, and 
walked along the street, and entered 
the Opera House; glad to get out 
into the starlight, almost awe-struck 



6o TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

to find herself at last within those 
walls. 

The rehearsal was very "undress" 
indeed. The house, not half lighted, 
had yet fewer spectators than jets of 
gas, — a handful of shadowy figures, hid 
away by twos and threes in the dim 
boxes; which were almost too dark 
for the reading of libretti. However 
eyes were young, and the party put 
their heads together and began to 
study out the coming opera, and so 
get a taste of the pleasure before- 
hand. Until — Well, as I said, Mir- 
iam was young and ignorant of the 
world, but a woman's instincts (if 
they have not been tampered with) 
outgrow her years and are independ- 
ent of her experience. And as the 
girl bent over the libretto, some of 
these instincts took frisrht. She found 



THEATRES. 6 1 

out suddenly that those small pages 
were not just the reading she liked, with 
a gentleman looking over her shoul- 
der; and instantly sat back, leaving 
the rest to their studies, and read not 
another word that night. She kept 
still, waiting for the music, — and then 
the music began. 

You who see such places only with 
all the conjuring power of light and 
dress upon them, have no idea how 
they look when things are transformed 
back again, and Cinderella has lost her 
glass slippers, and the coach is a pump- 
kin, and the coachman is a rat. This 
night the actors came on the stage in 
more — or less — than ordinary dress; as 
men look when they have put on theii 
dowdiest, for bad weather or dirty work: 
and these men wore their hats. Only 
the young Prima Donna was bare-head- 



62 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

ed, and of course (being a woman) had 
not made herself a fright. " Can a maid 
forget her ornaments ? " And this just 
touched off the effect of all the rest. 
But the music ! — 

The many discords and melodies of 
life since then have at last confused in 
Miriam's recollection the sounds she 
listened to that night; but for years 
after she could hear them almost as 
distinctly as at first; and the picture 
has never faded. The slim, fair girl; 
the rough, unwashed, unkempt-look- 
ing men; men whom (had she been 
your sister) you would not have let 
touch her — as we say — "with a pair 
of tongs." 

The play went on. Perhaps the li- 
bretto had given an uneasy stir to 
Miriam's satisfaction, for as she sat 
now entranced with the music, sud- 



THEATRES. 6$ 

denly there came to her the astound- 
ing revelation that this young girl on 
the stage, was singing those very words 
which the other young girl in the boxes 
had not quite liked to read. Singing 
them at the top of her sweet voice, — 
trying to bring them out distinctly and 
with full effect. It was only a queen, 
to be sure; but somehow (missing the 
royal robes) Miriam could see only a 
woman. Close upon this came an- 
other shock. These dingy, untidy, 
soiled-looking men were now making 
love to the young Prima Donna, — 
first one and then another; this one 
in bass, and that one in baritone, 
and she answering in her clear so- 
prano. Answering, — sometimes re- 
spending. Then they touched her, 
and handled her, and drew her about, 
as the exigencies of the piece de- 



64 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

manded. And there was no glitter 
of dress to turn the one into a king- 
ly suitor and the other into a faithful 
knight; the tarnished men were but 
men; and she — poor little uncrowned 
princess — was but a woman among 
them all; rubbing off the bloom and 
reserve of her woman's nature with 
every touch. 

Miriam could never tell how sick 
hearted she grew as she looked. 
That was this girl's livelihood; to 
go through all sorts of situations, 
with all sorts of men, for the amuse- 
ment of other people. O yes, it paid 
well. Had she been a teacher, — had 
she painted cups or stitched seams for 
a living, — her salary, her wages, would 
have been brought down to the lowest 
figure; but on the stage, at that work, 
p-ive he r what she asks ! — or make her 



THE A TRES. 65 

so popular that the manager will. Does 
she not " amuse " us all ? 

If ever anybody was thoroughly cured 
of theatre going, that was Miriam. It 
had been the greatest temptation of 
her life; but now a great recoil came 
over her, so that from that day, the 
mere thought of the stage brought 
only loathing and disgust. And so 
all women, as women, should set their 
faces against it in every shape; even 
down to the most "private" of private 
theatricals. There cannot possibly be 
a wholesome imitation of a bad thing. 

I know it is very unfashionable doc- 
trine. I know that even while I write, 
the newspapers set forth an advertise- 
ment of a play, prepared by a clergy- 
man, to be acted by Sunday Schools 
in this sweet Christmas time. Alas 
poor Sunday Schools ! — in full train- 



66 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

ing for service under "the world, the 
flesh, and the devil." — "Feed my 
Iambs," the Lord Jesus said, — and 
between meals you give them whis- 
key and water ! Nor is it the chil- 
dren only who suffer. I could tell of 
one lady in that very man's church, who 
being much delighted with some such 
performance in the Sunday School, went 
off the very next night to a theatre, to 
see the same thing done better. 

N. B. — She had never been before. 

"I will have dances at home for 
my children, lest they seek them else- 
where." — 

"I will take my boys to the theatre, 
because I do not want them to go any- 
where without me." — 

Real sayings, of real mothers, church 
members both. Which sayings, in ev- 
eryday English, read thus, "Since I 



THEATRES. 6 J 

want my children to keep out of the 
world, I will bring the world to them 
at home." — "Since my boys will do 
what I do not approve, I will guard 
them by doing it too." Far different 
from the strong stern-words of Script- 
ure: 

"Come out of her, my people." 
"Touch not the unclean thing." 
And then the wonderful sayings of 
Psalm i. i. 

If anybody thinks I have given an 
unfair instance, or that I characterize 
it unfairly, let them take other testi- 
mony where no prejudice can be sup- 
posed. Read Mrs. Kemble's "Journal" 
of her stage life. Read the opinion she 
gives of it all in her later "Recollec- 
tions." Yet from childhood some of 
her nearest and dearest she had known 
as actors. 



68 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

I have spoken first as to people 
bound by the Golden Rule r and for- 
bidden therefore to help anybody even 
to get a living in an evil way. For the 
work the theatre does upon yourselves, 
you know it, if you will be honest. Peo- 
ple answer: "O if it hurt me, of course 
I would give it up." Be honest with 
yourself, and you will come out of that 
delusion. You knozv it does not make 
love to Christ warmer, or thoughts of 
heaven sweeter; or the atmosphere of 
your everyday life more wholesome and 
sound. You know it leaves a restless 
craving for excitement, — you know it 
exalts the world before your eyes; and 
if you think a little you will find that, 
like my poor young friend in her dan- 
cing, you are not edified, not built up, 
but pulled down. Let me tell you of 
one case where the mother was a 



THEATRES. 69 

Church member, and had prayers reg- 
ularly every morning with her family. 
But the command to watch as well 
(J. e., "keep awake") she had forgot- 
ten. And the desire seized her to see 
— I will not write the name down here, 
but it was one of those foreign impor- 
tations which have beguiled thousands. 
She did not want her son to know of 
her going, and so went with her young 
daughter for escort ! But she found 
her son already there, and for twenty- 
eight nights running he was there again. 
Why not ? — if his mother went once ? 
And as might be expected, the daugh- 
ter has become (as people say) "wild 
for the theatre." 

Among the people who loved Mr. 
Lincoln best, and could best under- 
stand the semi-official way in which 
he went to the theatre that fatal 



70 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

night, there was not one, I fancy, 
who did not feel an added shock at 
learning where he was when the mes- 
senger came, and who did not wish 
that he had been almost anywhere 
else. Yet why ? If the theatre is a 
proper place for Christians to enter, it 
is as good a place as any other to be 

"Waiting — waiting — when the Lord 
shall come." 

The only thing I think of mentioned 
in the Bible that is much like modern 
performances on the boards, is the dan- 
cing of the daughter of Herodias before 
Herod. She worked for hire, she be- 
guiled her audience. "She pleased the 
king," and got from him all she asked 
for. It sounds very dreadful to you, 
no doubt, that the prophet's head 
should have been danced off by a 
pair of whirling feet ? — but that is a 



THEATRES. 71 

slight matter. If dancing and thea- 
tre going did only take off the heads 
of protesting saints, like an old-time 
persecution, they at least would but 
exchange the prison for the palace, 
and so not lose much. But this steal- 
ing away the heart and service once 
vowed to Christ, is another matter. 
You think it does not do this. You 
think your eye is as clear for heaven 
in the boxes as elsewhere. You think 
you can dress and go and look on and 
listen, keeping close to this command: 

"Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, 
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." 

Do you think so ? 

" I have never been to hear him," 
said Dr. Skinner, speaking then, only 
of a false prophet in a false Church, 
"because I could not expect to meet 
my Master there; and I will go nowhere 



>]2 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

for pleasure where he is not." What 
about the theatre, tried by that test ? 

How surely the world marks every 
Christian who is seen at such places; 
how certainly the children know that 
the parents have not yet forsaken all 
for Christ. And how constantly un- 
godly men fence off your warning, with 

the words: "Look at and , I 

am as good as they. I do this and 
that, and they do it too. I don't see 
the difference." 

But "nobody knows." O yes, ev- 
erybody knows. No matter if you are 
across the sea, — "A bird of the air shall 
carry the matter." But especially, the 
Lord knows. He setteth "a print on 
the heels of my feet" 1 — and step you 
never so lightly, the mark will be there, 
and the Lord will know. 

l Job xiii. 27. 



THEATRES. 73 

And where your feet go, there others 
will follow. "Is Miss Hope going- to 
such and such a performance?" in- 
quired a young man of me. I said 
no. He stood gravely thinking, and 
the talk drifted on. Then suddenly I 
heard him say — to himself as it were: 
— "Then I will not go either ! " — 

Persuasions, entreaties, ridicule, are 
nothing, mean nothing, if only you 
stand firm. And I have known gen- 
tlemen spend their strength in en- 
treaties, and then when the lady held 
out in her quiet refusal, they said 
afterwards to other people that they 
liked to see any one true to his prin- 
ciples. 

Staying once with some friends of 
rather free opinions and practice, Pris- 
cilla was beset to go with them on a 
certain evening to the theatre. So eag- 



74 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS 

er were the words, so well-loved the 
friends, that at last she grew desperate. 
Turning round upon the head of the 
house, she said: "Do you really want 
me to go ? " — He Jooked at her, sat 
back in his chair in silence, then an- 
swered soberly: "Well, I guess I'd just 
as lieve you didn't ! " 

Depend upon it, the very people who 
press you hardest, professing to see "no 
harm," will feel they have lost some- 
thing if you make them think the King's 
Country is just like their own. What- 
ever has happened to your moral sense, 
they know that the theatre is no place 
for a true-hearted servant of the Lord 
Jesus, if the Master is all he is repre- 
sented to be. If they met you there 
unawares, it would be with a thrill not 
of pleasure but of pain. 

Let me repeat my question, Is it as 



THEATRES. 75 

a Christian you go to the theatre ? can 
you go and keep your armour bright ? 
does the helmet of salvation rest se- 
curely on your head ? Is the girdle 
of truth, — truth of life, purpose, and 
heart, — fast bound ? the breastplate of 
righteousness burnished, the shield of 
faith ready against every dart that may 
fly in that great building ? Are they 
the shoes of peace on which you go 
in ? not pleasure, but peace? Is it the 
sword of the Spirit with which you meet 
and parry the thrusts of idleness, folly, 
mischief ? Ah you know better ! When 
you go to the theatre these defences 
are left at home, as not fit for the oc- 
casion. The house is built and man- 
aged and filled in the interests of the 
enemy; and of course your uniform is 
out of place. Tired Church members, 
do you go there for rest? 



(Same** 



T^R SKINNER 1 used to say that 
all games of chance were un- 
lawful. For inasmuch as there is no 
chance in the economy of this world, 
all use of dice or lottery in any shape 
is really an appeal to him of whom it is 
said: 

"The lot is cast into the lap, but the 
whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." 2 

And you will agree with me that 
this is not a thing to be done lightly. 

In old times the casting of a lot was 
a solemn religious service: ushered in 
even among pagans with prayer and 

1 Once pastor of the Mercer Street Church, New York, and 
Professor in Union Theological Seminary. 

2 Prov. xvi. 33. 



GAMES. 77 

often with fasting; but what careless, 
reckless ignoring of God as the Gov- 
ernor among the nations, is there in 
all connected with the lot in our days. 
What foul associations cloud and wrap 
up almost every game of chance: how 
soiled are the cards, how unhallowed 
the rattle of the dice. What degrad- 
ing, debasing work is done by every 
species of lottery; what desperate evils 
spring up and grow out of "a chance" 
at a Church fair ! Some years ago, at 
the time of the great German and French 
fairs in New York, a lady thoughtlessly 
gave her young son leave to buy "a 
chance " for a gold watch. Thought- 
lessly, — it was just a dollar to the fair 
and an amusement to the boy. And 
before twenty-four hours had passed, 
she would have given anything in the 
world to recall her permission. For at 



78 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

once the boy's mind became wholly ab- 
sorbed in his "chance." The fair went 
on, the drawing was long delayed; and 
day after day — hour by hour, if he could 
— he went to inquire and to watch; and 
the mother saw her child in a true gam- 
bling fever, and she obliged to let it 
run its course. Mercifully, as she said, 
the watch fell to another. "If it had 
come to George, I don't know what in 
the world I should have done." 

" We play for sugarplums," — we " toss 
up" for nuts; but each time the evil 
seeds are planted. The mere habit of 
talking of "chance," of "luck," of "fate," 
as if you believed in them all, tends di- 
rectly to weaken your realizing trust 
in the Great Ruler of the world; who 
counts his sparrows, and numbers the 
hairs of your head. Chance ? If the 
watchmaker could not control one 



.= GAMES. 79 

smallest wheel or point in his watch; 
if even a grain of dust got in and de- 
fied him; what think you he could do 
with mainspring and hands ? One un- 
manageable atom would stop the whole. 

To quote Dr. Skinner again, — one to 
whom I think it never occurred to like 
anything but what God liked, — in his 
early life as a young man he had seen 
much wild company; and so strong was 
their association with evil, that to the 
end of his life he could never even hear 
the dice fall without a shiver. 

"Put it away, my dear," he would 
say of even the backgammon board. 
"I don't like it— I don't like it!" 

For games of chance, as a rule, 
gather round them a setting of sin 
and sorrow which other games do 
not. I suppose men take in their 
practical infidelity, and grow lawless. 



80 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

You do not mean to appeal to God 
in your games of " chance," — but if 
not to him, then to some other power 
supposed to be outside his rule or be- 
yond his notice: "chance," "luck," or 
the devil. And it does not much mat- 
ter which word you use. Yet "tired" 
Church members will play euchre and 
whist, and there are cards in the table 
drawer in the parlour, and of course a 
dingier pack in the kitchen, in many 
a so-called Christian house; though 
the family hide them or apologize be- 
fore people who are called "intense." 
The minister comes in upon a card 
party in his parish, and all rise in 
deprecatory confusion ; and perhaps 
(ah I know it happened in one case) 
the minister waves his hand gracious- 
ly, with a "Don't let me disturb you," 
— and so passes on. O it hurts one to 



GAMES. 8 1 

have a fellow Christian ask in the quiet 
evening at her own house, "Would you 
object to our bringing out the cards?" 
— "I could not touch them," was all 
the answer, and the drawer stayed 
shut. But I wish a Nonconformist 
Church could rise up in these days. 
We are so busy calling ourselves 
Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyte- 
rians, that we seem to forget the 
old far-better name which should in- 
clude all. In the war it was only 
loyal or disloyal: and New York was 
proud of the Wisconsin boys that 
were all six feet two; and Ohio wept 
for those of Massachusetts w r ho were 
among the first to shed their blood. 
Dear friends, it is war time now: if 
you could only realize that, a good 
many things would be set straight. 
Not able to give up doubtful games 



82 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

and questionable dances ? Why in '76 
the women fired at their tea kettles ! — 

Nonconformists. But now, " My 
mother does it," — "my aunt goes," 
— "my father likes it": so run the 
excuses which the members of your 
Bible Class, children of Church mem- 
bers, fling in your face. 

But what you call "lawful" games, 
are stupid. Not all of them, perhaps; 
but if they were, that would not touch 
the question. Paul's "If meat make 
my brother to offend, I will eat no 
flesh while the world standeth," was 
crippled with no such condition as "If 
I can get bread." And when the Lord 
bade us cut off the offending right hand, 
no question of whether we could live 
without it came in. It is not abso- 
lutely needful that Christ should find 
all his tired Church members rested 



and fresh; but it is necessary that 
they should be "spotless," "faithful," 
"ready," when he comes. 

There are other amusements that 
might be touched upon just here, but 
perhaps they are as well not named. 
Whatever takes you full into the ranks 
of Christ's enemies, not to fight but 
to follow them; whatever you cannot 
do straight through in the name of the 
Lord Jesus; whatever turns you away 
from the shining presence of his face; 
is unlawful for you. Once remember 
that there is no middle ground, and 
then ask yourself what standing room 
there can be for you on a race course, 
what seat at a circus. If you are not 
with Christ, openly, unmistakably, you 
are "scattering," even in your games. 
I asked a friend (a minister of deep ex- 
perience) lately, if he had seen much of 



84 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

this private card playing among Church 
members ? He answered, "Yes, a great 
deal." Then I inquired what was the 
effect, as he had noticed it. And the 
reply was instant and emphatic: 

"Always evil ! " — 

Carlyle tells of "patriots" in the 
French Revolution who shaved each 
other out of the fragments of bomb 
shells, and wore ghastly trophies from 
the guillotine. But short of a Reign 
of Terror, making all men mad, one 
does not expect such things. Few peo- 
ple (I fancy) if they knew it, would care 
to use the glass from which some poor 
wretch had drunk his draught of poi- 
son; and even to touch the murderer's 
knife stored up in a public museum, 
would turn most hearts sick. But if 
you could only see as God sees; if 
things in society were but labelled and 



classed; you would find your cards dark 
with the soul-life blood of thousands, 
and could hear their ruin in every fall 
of the dice. 

I was much interested in a recent 
English essay ("On the Criminal Code 
of the Jews") to find how the typical 
Israel regarded games of chance. As 
if something of the old blessed "The 
Lord is our King," staid by them, even 
in the days of their downfall. The 
writer says: 

"All who made money by dice-play- 
ing or any games of hazard, by betting 
on pigeon matches and similar objec- 
tionable practices, were not only inca- 
pable of becoming members of a tribu- 
nal, but were not permitted to give 
evidence. The Ghemara regards a 
man who gains money by the amuse 
ments named, as dishonest." 



TOjat &eft? 



"OUT you will say, I leave nothing 
"^ for you, then; no amusements, 
no recreation. Is that true ? Is the 
narrow way indeed so barren, that we 
must step out of it to rest ? Has the 
Lord only food and water for his flock, 
and when they need change and re- 
freshment must they leave their Shep- 
herd, and go over to the wolf for a run 
upon the hillside ? That sounds hard 
for weak human nature — and strange, 
for a Lord of boundless resources. 
And somehow the Bible pictures of 
the flock shew wondrous contentment. 
"A stranger will they not follow." 1 

1 John x. 5. 



WHAT LEFT? 87 

Then following the Master must be 

very sweet; for all men like variety, 
and the mere fact of a new voice is 
of itself enough to draw one aside. 
Yet "a stranger will they not fol- 
low, but will flee from him," — O how 
much that tells ! And here we touch 
the very root and spring of true re- 
freshment, of real recreation. For 
while good general health is the best 
specific against mere bodily fatigue, so 
against a jaded, over-wrought state of 
nerves and energies, there is nothing 
like a heart full of joy and a mind at 
rest. 

"He that believeth on me shall nev- 
er thirst." * 

And if this satisfaction does not un- 
derlie all your pastimes, they will be 
a failure. No other stream alone can 

l John vi. 35. 



88 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

freshen even the small dry barrens of 
this earth. 

But besides that, what is there left 
for Christian people ? 

To begin: "Dancing- is such good 
exercise ! " people say. Granted. Or 
at least it might be. But instead of 
night hours in a ball room, get on 
horseback for two hours in the open 
day, and then balance the profit and 
loss. You don't know how? — then 
learn. You have no horse ? Go to 
riding school. An hour in the ring 
will stir your blood better than twenty 
Germans. But you "cannot afford" to 
take riding lessons. — Well to say noth- 
ing of ball dresses, just throw satin slip- 
pers and long gloves and carriage hire 
together, and see if you cannot afford 
it. Ay, and have a ticket now and 
then for some one poorer than yourself. 



WHAT LEFT? 89 

Then for people who live within 
reach of the opera, there is generally 
much other good music to be had, at 
far less expense and with none of 
the objections. And there again, the 
money and time spent at the opera, 
would train the voices at home into a 
lovely choir. Voices which now "have 
no time," and talents perhaps unknown. 

"Everybody cannot sing." — No. 
And neither can everybody paint; 
but it is a delicious pleasure to those 
who can. What joy to go sketching ! 
what delight to work up the sketches 
at home. What pure, noiseless, ex- 
quisite play it is. And if some of the 
party care nothing for pencils, let them 
lie under a tree with a book, and be 
part of your picture. 

"Ah, books! — Of course you disap- 
prove of novels," — some one exclaims. 



90 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

Indeed no. A good novel is very- 
improving as well as refreshing. And 
after much study over that word "good" 
(that is, for us, worth reading) I can give 
no better meaning than this. A good 
book, whether novel or other, is one 
which leaves you further on than it 
took you up. If when you drop it, it 
drops you, right down in the same old 
spot; with no finer outlook, no cleared 
vision, no stimulated desires, it is in no 
sense a good book for you. As well 
make fancy loaves of sawdust, and la- 
bel them "Good Bread " ; and claim that 
you rise from the banquet refreshed. 

A novel has special power of its 
own. It may be deeply historical, like 
"Waverly," and "The Tale of Two 
Cities." It may be a picture of viv- 
id local colouring, like "Ivanhoe," or 
" Lorna Doone," or " Dr Antonio." 



WHAT LEFT? 91 

It may be full of social hints and 
glimpses, with many a covert wise sug- 
gestion, like Miss Austin's "Emma." 
It may shew up a vital truth or a 
life-long mistake, like Miss Edge- 
worth's "Helen," or open out new 
natural scenes like the "Adventures 
of a Phaeton"; or life scenes, like 
"Oliver Twist"; or be so full of frol- 
ic and fun and sharp common sense, 
that the mere laughter of it does 
you good "like a medicine." Wit- 
ness "Christie Johnstone," and Miss 
Carlen's "John." All such books are 
utterly helpful, and leave you well 
in advance of where they found you. 
They enlarge your world, they stim- 
ulate your life. Only read none that 
enlarge it by a peep through the gates 
of hell. On that side knowledge is 
death. 



92 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

But how is one to tell ? you ask. 
Books are not labelled "good," "bad," 
and "indifferent." No: and when you 
go to shops and houses you do not 
know what air you will find, perhaps 
not till you open the door. But you 
start back from one room, and hold 
your breath in another, hastening to 
get away; not because you have stud- 
ied chemistry and can analyze the air, 
but because your keen physical sense 
is smitten. Keep your moral sense as 
fresh, as keen; and the moment you 
find foul air in a book, throw the book 
in the fire. Do not leave it about to 
poison some one else. And if you find 
no wholesome stir, no real refreshment, 
but only a feverish thirst beginning, lay . 
the book down: remember, you are after 
recreation. 

Re-creation, — the remaking and re- 



WHAT LEFT? 93 

fitting of ourselves for better work, the 
resting - for more labour, the learning, 
that we may grow thereby. That is 
what you profess to need, dear fellow 
Christians. Then seek it, — and take 
no makebelieve. 

"Nothing left?"— Why the world 
is so full of delightful things to do, 
that one can but look at a quarter of 
them. They stand at my elbow ten 
deep. Books and music, and paint- 
ing, and riding, and gardening, with 
all sorts of studies of the wonderful 
works of God. You are not shut up 
to novels. Books of art, books of 
travel, books of poetry, books of sci- 
ence. O how I have rested in the 
coolness of Longfellow's "Cathedral"; 
and with what delight seen Alpine 
heights with Ruskin. 

Then there is that wonder of refresh- 



94 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

ment, the stereoscope. One comes back 
from a half hour there in a Swiss valley 
as into a new world, with the dust all 
blown away. A stereoscope costs lit- 
tle, and views are not expensive,— that 
is if you are content with one or two 
at a time, which is the real way to buy 
them; choosing, considering, carefully 
selecting only those you cannot possi- 
bly go home without ! I know we be- 
gan with six; those six sorted out with 
jealous care from the contents of many 
boxes; and by ones and twos the little 
collection has grown into something 
worth having. And if you turn Over 
every lot of views you come across, 
you will often find one rare and fine and 
cheap, thrown in among the rubbish. 

Then there is the microscope, — full 
of rich pleasure and deep study and 
wonderful revealings. And here again 






WHAT LEFT? 95 

no great outlay is needed. The days 
of only sixty dollar glasses are quite 
gone by, and for five or ten dollars — 
even less — you can get a microscope 
that will keep ahead of you for some 
time to come. 

On the other hand, if one has neither 
the skill nor the means to furnish a 
home-made telescope, there are other 
ways of studying the stars, from the 
days of Ferguson down. You remem- 
ber he used to measure the distance 
from star to star with beads upon a 
string. I have seen a man who could 
neither read nor write, and yet could 
tell by the stars the hour at any time 
of night; and it is a shame that we 
educated people who know so much, 
should also know so little. 

If you are in the country, and fond 
of "stones," get a geologist's ham- 



96 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

mer, and Hugh Miller's books, and 
give yourself up to happiness. Or if 
you like flowers, study them; learn- 
ing to know families and sub-families 
through all the floral peerage. 

But perhaps you ''do not care for 
out-door things ? " Then get a bit of 
wood and a few carving tools, and see 
what dainty wonders you can make at 
home. Or lose your cares in "illumi- 
nating"; or bury them fathom deep in 
German. From any of these, well be- 
gun and carried on, you will come back 
re-created for your work : made over 
"as good as new." Not poisoned with 
bad air, nor wearied by late hours; not 
singed and jaded with chagrin, vanity, 
and disappointment. Riding, rowing, 
archery, fishing, ought to give Christian 
people enough exercise, without their 
being obliged to frequent ball rooms to 



WHAT LEFT? 97 

find it; and as for the "grace" people 
talk of, nothing teaches that like a 
heart full of graces — "love, joy, peace," 
and the rest. Do they flourish at your 
doubtful entertainments ? do they not 
rather droop and hang their heads, like 
the dear flowers in your bouquet ? 

And if people sought their refresh- 
ment among all those sweet and whole- 
some things, conversation would no 
longer be the difficult and the dry 
thing it is in many a company. There 
would be something to talk about worth 
talking of; and men of sense would ven- 
ture to talk sense, even to women; and 
gossip would go down. How much 
more interesting is a butterfly, than the 
curtains of the house across the way ! — 

The world is full of joys and pleas- 
ures and wonders, even yet, outside of 
Eden. So full that as I said, you can 



98 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

only begin to taste them all, in all 
your life. I think it is stated that no 
ordinary life-term would suffice for the 
thorough study of merely the great fam- 
ily of orchids. And all these things 
which I have named (the list is really 
much longer), yes, every one of them, 
rightly used, will ennoble you, and build 
you up, and refresh you, with every 
time of using. Not like the snail 
which crawled up three feet every 
day and fell back two feet every 
night: onward and upward shall be 
your course; with soul and body and 
mind re-created, restored by right 
means, to right ends. Only make 
one rule to yourself: where any- 
thing is doubtful, let it alone. 

If you tell me I do not know the 
fascination of these other things, I 
tell you that I do; and in one line 



WHAT LEFT? 99 

at least have known it as deeply as 
any one could. But I have also known, 
that with the coming of Christ into 
my heart, with the new knowledge of 
his presence, the old taste fell dead 
in a moment, and never arose again. 
I cannot say it was not much to give 
up, for it was nothing. The former fas- 
cination fell off, like the dry skin of a 
chrysalis when the butterfly spreads its 
wings. And here we reach the very 
point of the whole difficulty. For with 
all their crosses, privations, and givings- 
up, the Lord's people are not meant 
to dwell in any land of darkness or of 
drought. Listen to some of the prom- 
ises. 

"The righteous shall hold on his 
way, and he that hath clean hands 
shall be stronger and stronger." 1 

1 Job xvii. 9. 



IOO TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

1 ' They go from strength to strength." 1 

" They that wait on the Lord shall 
renew their strength." 2 

For why ? 

"For the joy of the Lord is your 
strength." 3 

I believe the words are true for the 
body as for the mind. It is nowhere 
promised that you shall not be tired; 
but so waiting, so living, so abiding by 
the head waters of all strength, the 
most lovely, fresh, ever-renewed life 
shall be yours. 

"The righteous shall flourish like 
the palm tree." 4 

"Their souls shall be as a watered 
'garden." 5 

It is the man "whose delight is in 
the law of the Lord" who not only 

l Ps. lxxxiv. 7. 2 Isa. xl. 31. 3 Neh. viii. 10. 

4 Ps. xcii. 12. 5 Jer. xxxi. 12 



WHAT LEFT? 101 

"bringeth forth his fruit in his sea- 
son," but also when the time for fresh- 
ness and life and growth seems over, 

"They shall still bring forth fruit in 
old age." x 

Not only "created in Christ Jesus 
unto good works," but perpetually re- 
created in him, from hour to hour, from 
year to year. Has he not said: "I will 
be as the dew unto Israel"? 2 No more 
age for them, thus dwelling in "the 
power of an endless life " ; 3 no empty 
hands, for those who "have all things, 
and abound." 4 No disgust of life or 
hopelessness of labour for servants 
'•who every now and then — from the 
midst of their work — follow the Mas- 
ter (but only him) "apart to rest 
awhile," 5 "A stranger will they not 

1 Ps. xcii. 14. 2 Hosea xiv. 5. 3 Heb. vii. 16. 

4 Phil. iv. 18. 5 Mark vi. 31. 



102 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

follow." You have seen such people; 
you may see them every now and 
then; with smooth brows and sweet 
faces and eyes full of the peace of 
God. 

"And I said, This is the rest, and 
this is the refreshing." 1 

I am persuaded, that without this, 
all forms of recreation that can be 
tried will be but as quack medicines, 
giving a temporary relief, only to be 
followed by a sorer need. And while 
there are a hundred lawful, sweet, 
wholesome means of rest at our dis- 
posal, I believe that even they will 
fail if used alone. And if you throw 
in all unlawful pleasures also, the fail- 
ure will but be the more complete, 
"All my springs are in thee," 2 and 
these other things are but channels 

l Isa. xxviii. 12. 2 Ps. lxxxvii. 7. 



WHAT LEFT? 103 

through which may flow the loving- 
kindness of the Lord. From him 
comes all your skill to study, your 
power to sing: the ingenious fancy, 
the quick intellect, the deft hand, 
are all his gift. In this exquisite 
world of his wherein you work, his 
power, his care, his laws are around 
you as surely when you play as when 
you work. So that you can walk with 
Christ always, as you are meant to do; 
looking up to him from relaxation as 
from labour, thus missing the intoxi- 
cation of the one and forgetting the 
toil of the other. 

Now whatever lawful things such a 
disciple may "amuse" himself with, 
you can see at once that for even 
ine doubtful he could have no relish; 
counting them but as a draught from 
that "troubled sea whose waters cast 



104 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

up mire and dirt." 1 Neither would he 
come to his recreations tired of life, 
nor because his daily round had turned 
to "white of egg"; 2 but with genuine, 
honest fatigue, taking amusement as 
he takes sleep, and going back from 
it with a joyous rebound to his special 
weedy corner in the vineyard. 

"I know I am getting rested," I 
heard a minister once say in his va- 
cation, "for I am getting hungry for 
my work ! " 

"My people have forgotten their 
resting place" — let it not ever be 
said of you and me. 

But it is those not merely "planted 
in the courts of the Lord," but who 
"flourish" there, that are the trees 
whose "leaf shall not wither"; and 
in this you have the whole story. 

1 Isa. lvii. 20. 2 Job vi. 6. 



WHAT LEFT? 105 

A Christian who is flourishing where 
he belongs, will never go where- he 
does not belong. And no one who 
is dwelling daily in the clear sun- 
shine of Christ's presence, will need 
a dance to enliven him, or a horse 
race — or a walking match — to keep 
up his interest in life. There will be 
"melody in his heart" without the 
opera; and life will be full and bright 
and strong, without a speck of tin- 
sel pleasure. Work will be sweet, and 
play will be joyous; and by one and 
by the other the man will grow — 
"Grow, like the cedar in Lebanon." 
Now that you may prove all this, 
that you may begin right, be careful 
to take the full good of all the or- 
dered resting times: to wit, the Sun- 
days. I wish all tired people did but 
know the infinite rest there is in fen- 



io6 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

cing off the six days from the seventh 
In anchoring the business ships of your 
daily life as the Saturday draws to its 
close, leaving them to ride peacefully 
upon the flow or the ebb until Monday 
morning comes again. O the delight, 
the lull, of feeling: "No need to settle 
this question — no need to think of this 
piece of work — for a whole long, sweet 
thirty-six hours ! " Why do you take 
Sunday papers, to keep your nerves 
astir with business on the Lord's own 
day of rest ? Why do you add up and 
consult and consider in the pauses of 
the sermon, or make opportunity for 
a business whisper in the porch, and 
on the way home ? Why do you 
let the perplexities of servants, of 
means, of plans, ruffle your spirits on 
the one great day of freedom ? Do 
not you know that even a debtor may 






WHAT LEFT? 107 

walk abroad on Sunday, with no fear 
of a prison; and house doors may stand 
open, and no sheriff can enter. Shall 
t be worse with your mind than with 
your body? 

"Sleep, sleep to-day, tormenting cares, 
Of earth and folly born," — 

It is the high court of the Prince of 
Peace. 

"Rest on Sunday ! " — I hear some 
earnest worker cry. "Why Sunday 
is the hardest of all the week ! " 

Yes, in a way that is true, for work- 
ers in the Lord's work. Yet as far 
as possible do not make it so. Do 
not imagine that you have the whole 
world on your shoulders: do not try 
to have. Do not lift up a burden you 
cam by no means bear. The messen- 
gers came back to the Lord with their 
reports, — so you. 



108 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

"Lord, they will not hear — " 

"Lord, it is done." — 

Work with your whole 'heart and 
strength; but then take work and 
class, and lay them at the Lord's 
feet; and with them the tired worker 
too. So doing your work peacefully. 
And if Monday morning finds you tired, 
it will find you also rested. The air of 
the world will have cleared somewhat, 
giving a nearer view of "the city"; its 
mountains will have sunk down well 
nigh out of sight, before the everlast- 
ing hills to which you may lift up your 
eyes for help. And labour and care 
and profit and loss will cease to be a 
tangle when stamped with this order: 

"Occupy till I come." 

But for you who are not workers 
(the why and wherefore are for your- 
selves to say) do you too make the 



WHAT LEFT? 109 

Sabbath a day of rest. Yet do not 
let your Sunday rest run into Sunday 
dissipation by trying to hear all the 
good sermons at once. Choose (and 
abide by) some true church so near 
that no street car shall be run for 
you, and yet — if possible — far enough 
off to give you a freshening walk as 
you go and come. Neither take out 
your carriage, "that thine ox and 
thine ass may rest." 1 Of course I 
speak only of places where it is pos- 
sible to walk to church. 

Get up early enough to have no 
hurry and no "late." Have a simple 
church dress that will need no fussing; 
have a simple breakfast, without "hot 
cakes," and a cold dinner, "that thy 
man servant and thy maid servant may 
rest as well as thou." 2 

l Ex. xxiii. 12. 2 Deut. v. 14. 



no TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

I know it is charged upon the men 
of the family that they will never 
"stand" a cold dinner. But I have 
catered for just such many times, and 
I know they will. Only be you care- 
ful on Saturday, to provide a dainty 
repast that is jit to eat cold— and then 
see. You will find those very grum- 
blers charmed with their dinner, and 
praising it before any other in the 
week. You can always grace your 
cold dishes with hot coffee and baked 
potatoes. 

O the rest, the "recreation" of such 
a day ! With all earth's turmoil pushed 
aside, and Christ himself the one invi- 
ted guest. Unless indeed some needy 
friend, who can have no "Sunday" else- 
where. People talk in these days with 
horror of the old Puritan sabbath. But 
even if everything be true that they 



WHAT LEFT? in 

tell of it, I would rather spend Sunday 
with blinds shut and pictures turned to 
the wall, than in the full week-day glare 
which fills some houses. And if you 
want refreshment from your play-times 
in the week, if you want heart and mind 
and face to keep fresh, begin the week 
with the Lord's day kept wholly to the 
Lord. 

" Verily, my sabbaths ye shall keep: 
for it is a sign between me and you 
throughout your generations." 1 

A sabbath, a rest. Rest of mind 
which lingering in bed will not give; 
rest of body which feasting could only 
hinder; a rest of heart by dwelling all 
day in the deep shadow of the Lord's 
presence. So beginning the week, this 
promise shall be upon you as each day 
rolls on, 



112 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 

" My presence shall go with thee, 
and I will give thee rest." 1 

" And in all things that I have said 
unto you be circumspect; and make no 
mention of the name of other gods, 
neither let it be heard out of thy 
mouth." 2 

I Ex. xiii. 14. J Ex. xxiii. 13. 



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